Flexitarian Tacos with Spinach, Corn, Black Beans and Goat Cheese (with optional Adobo Chicken)

These were delicious and VERY quick and easy.  They were inspired by this recipe.  If you don’t already have some adobo seasoning on hand, I highly recommend mixing up a batch.  It’s great to season lots of things, but is perfect for spicing up chicken to add to tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, salads, etc.  The flavor is wonderful.

Flexitarian Tacos

1 Tbsp canola oil

2 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained of any residual moisture

1 5-ounce package baby spinach

1 can (or about 1 and one-half cups) cooked black beans, rinsed and drained

8 small flour tortillas

3/4 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese (3 ounces)

3/4 cup store-bought refrigerated salsa

(the ONLY acceptable store-bought salsa, if you live in Central Texas, is Rose’s Just Right Fresh salsa…there are no words)

a few teaspoons adobo seasoning (scroll down for recipe), to taste

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Sprinkle chicken thighs liberally with adobo seasoning on both sides and then grill them, either outside on a grill pan.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, wide saute pan over VERY high heat.  Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn has started to brown slightly around the edges.  Lower the heat in the pan to medium and add the spinach.  Stir occasionally until the spinach has wilted.  Add the beans to the pan and continue cooking until warmed through.  Remove from heat.

Cut chicken into thin strips.

Fill tortillas with some of the veggie mixture and then top with cheese and salsa, as desired.  The carnivores can add a bit of chicken to their tacos, as well.

I’ve marked this recipe as gluten-free, because you could easily substitute corn tortillas for the wheat.

Warm Farro Salad with Braised Radishes

Recipe here.

This was quite delicious.  Unusual, and not like anything I’ve had before, but light and very flavorful.  The braised radishes were pleasantly both sweet and tangy.  I sauteed the pancetta in a separate pan and then cooked the radishes in olive oil, rather than the bacon pan, so that Vegetarian Girl could have hers with the pancetta.  We just sprinkled the cooked, chopped pancetta on top of ours at the very end.  I served this with some roasted brussel sprouts (also adapted for Vegetarian Girl, but with pancetta added for us.)  Yes, we went a bit crazy with the pancetta this meal…I would probably pick a different green veggie to serve with this next time, but we all love roasted sprouts, so I just went for it!

Peanut Butter Cup and Pretzel Terrine

“Recipe” here.

So, I feel guilty even calling this a “recipe,” because it is so simple, but it was delicious and was a fantastic way to use up some leftover Halloween candy.  It’s a kind of make-your-own Chubby Hubby.  This was quite good and would be fancy enough to serve for a casual dinner party with friends, but takes mere minutes to compose (although it must sit in the freezer for a while afterward.)

Butternut Squash Flat Bread with Cheddar and Pine Nuts

Recipe here.

I was prepared for this to be healthy and I figured that Vegetarian Girl would like it, but I have to say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was and at the fact that ALL of us liked it.  It was rich without being too heavy and was VERY flavorful.  I was afraid that the squash wouldn’t cook well and would stay unappetizingly crunchy, but they didn’t.  I did use a bit more dough than the recipe called for, because of the package size of the dough that I bought, so I might double up accordingly on the toppings next time, but it was quite, quite good.  I didn’t serve it with the arugula, but did some kale chips, instead.  This will be a definite repeat.  I’ll probably add a bit more thyme next time, too.

Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper Dip)

Recipe here.

This was delicious.  Both spicy and sweet.  Delicious with veggies to dip, but would also be fantastic with pita chips or as a spread on a veggie sandwich.  I’m always looking for healthy snacks for Vegetarian Girl and this one was a hit and was surprisingly easy.  I actually used pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper instead of the honey and crushed red pepper, because I just happened to have both on hand, but I’m sure it would be fine with whatever you have.

Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake

Recipe here.

OK, so there are  very few recipes that would actually live up to a promise like that, but this is one of them.  This was moist and light and VERY flavorful.  Quite tasty.  The Meyer lemons are a fun novelty, if you can find them, but this would also be fantastic if you made it with plain old regular lemons.

I have a long, narrow loaf pan that I bought from The Baker’s Catalogue that I used for this and it made lovely little dainty-sized slices.  It’s ceramic, rather than the metal recommended in the recipe, but it still worked fine.

FYI – Meyer Lemons are a little darker in color and sweeter in flavor than regular lemons.

Giada’s Almond Pancakes

Recipe here.

Made these for Boy’s birthday breakfast.  Pray for me; I officially have two teenagers in the house!

These were absolutely delicious.  They are considerably sweeter than most pancakes recipes (many recipes don’t even contain any sugar,) and so, consequently needed MUCH less syrup over the top of them, but the almond flavor was outstanding and we will DEFINITELY be making these again.

Wondering what to do with the remaining mascarpone (mine came in an 8 oz container) and the remaining almond paste (ditto – 8 oz container?)  You can freeze them both (chop/crumble the almond paste first) for a future batch…or you can buy some puff pastry and sliced almonds and make these.  You’ll have just enough almond paste.  Then, the other 4 ounces of mascarpone?  Try this!

Pork Loin Chops with Cinnamon Apples, Classic Potato Pancakes, Spicy Green Beans with Garlic Oil and Preserved Lemon

Pork Chops and Apples recipe here.

Potato Pancakes recipe here (we served them with sour cream and they were fantastic!)

For the green beans, I was inspired by this recipe (which I’ve made before) and another one with preserved lemon in Madhur Jaffrey’s awesome World Vegetarian cookbook and combined them and adapted them to make my own, which was quite delicious.  Ideally, the beans would be a little more browned that the ones in my photo, but these were still good.

Spicy Green Beans with with Garlic Oil and Preserved Lemon

1 pound fresh green beans, washed and cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch long pieces

2 or 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (think Paul Sorvino in Goodfellas)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 wedge of preserved lemon (Use the rind only; remove and discard the pulp), rinsed well and finely chopped

(If you don’t want to make your own, you can buy preserved/Moroccan lemons at a gourmet store.  They are VERY simple and inexpensive to make, but they do have to sit for a while.)

a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, to taste (start with 1/4 tsp.)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blanch green beans by covering them with cold water in a medium saucepan.  When they come to a boil, drain them and soak them in ice water until they are cool.  Drain them again and set them aside.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is lightly golden-toasted, but not brown.  Quickly remove and discard the garlic.

Add the green beans to the pan and cook, stirring only once or twice, until the beans are slightly softened and lightly browned in spots, but not mushy.  You’ll need to watch them carefully, since they won’t brown if you stir them too much, but if you don’t toss/stir them enough, they’ll scorch or stick to the bottom of the pan.

When the beans have reached your desired doneness, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add the chili flakes and lemon and stir to coat evenly.  Remove from heat and serve.

Adobo Grilled Chicken, Black Bean & Quinoa Salad and a Crunchy Roasted Corn repeat

YUM!  This was SUCH a delicious meal.  I had planned on only making the black bean & quinoa salad and grilled chicken, but The Boy was with me at the supermarket and saw corn on the cob and requested this corn, which he loves.  It sort “went with” the meal, so I acquiesced.

Black bean and quinoa salad recipe here.  This recipe is delicious, but makes a ton, but it also keeps in the fridge fairly well for a day or two and makes a great lunch the next day.  If you’re not a fan of leftovers and you’re not feeding a crowd, I’d recommend making a half-batch.  It was quite good and pretty simple.

The corn recipe, basically, is here, but I used Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming for the seasoning this time.  A universal hit, every time.  Have served it for company and always have people ask for the recipe.  Boy, in particular, LOVES this stuff.

The chicken is just boneless, skinless thighs sprinkled liberally with this fantastic Adobo seasoning mixture (scroll down) and then grilled.  I really love this spice blend and am planning to use it more in the future.  It’s great on chicken that you’re planning to put in any kind of Mexican dish (enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, etc.)  Achiote/annatto can be a little bit hard to find, but try a Latin market (or the Latin aisle of a large supermarket.)  If you’re in Austin, Central Market has whole annatto seeds (in their bulk section) that can be ground in your spice-dedicated grinder.

What?  You don’t have one of those?!!?!  $20 can fix that.  You NEED one.  How else can you make garam masala?

*This meal is gluten-free, if you use gluten-free breadcrumbs.

Thai Red Curry with Vegetables (and tofu and/or chicken)

Tofu version

Chicken version

This recipe (which can be found here) was delicious and pretty easy and was also VERY easily adaptable (as outlined in the recipe) to serve both carnivores AND vegetarians.  Bonus!  This was my first foray into Thai curries (although we LOVE Indian ones) and we all enjoyed it a lot.  I used bottled red Thai curry paste, but am going to try to make my own next time.  Luckily, most of the ingredients (chiles, galangal, lemongrass, etc.) are pretty easy to find in my gourmet-friendly city and I am lucky enough to have my own Thai lime tree, so can get VERY fresh leaves easily.  This will be a definite future repeat.

*This recipe is gluten free, if you use gluten free tamari soy sauce.

(see photo)

Mise en place for curry